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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Russian Soyuz Rocket Successfully Reaches Orbit

The Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan this morning at 6:11 a.m. EDT (4:11 p.m. Baikonur local time) carrying a Progress 45 spacecraft to the International Space Station.

The spacecraft has successfully reached orbit, and is planned to dock with the International Space Station on Wednesday.

Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington said in a press release, "We congratulate our Russian colleagues on Sunday's successful launch of ISS Progress 45, and the spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station. Pending the outcome of a series of flight readiness meetings in the coming weeks, this successful flight sets the stage for the next Soyuz launch, planned for mid-November. The December Soyuz mission will restore the space station crew size to six and continue normal crew rotations."